


Empress of Ash

by cybernetic_eve



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Conflicted Kylo Ren, Dark Rey, Emperor Kylo Ren, Empress Rey, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 00:39:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15012899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cybernetic_eve/pseuds/cybernetic_eve
Summary: “Ben…” She began gently, hating the way it made his lip quiver, his fist tighten on Anakin’s lightsaber as his confidence crumbled. She was fully prepared to turn him down, to explain the million reasons why this was a bad idea, why it could never work. But instead her mouth opened and she asked, “What--what would happen then, if I were to...accept?”





	Empress of Ash

She stood at the edge of the room, watching the world crash down around Ben Solo.

Snoke’s guards lay slumped all around them like the reddened husks of vanquished demons. Like the cooling bodies of dragons, slain by a prince and a maiden.

They had won, right? 

This is what victory looked like. 

So why did it taste so bitter as she watched Ben approach the throne? His feet dragged like a sleepwalker’s; she wanted to slap him, shake him awake. 

The darkness that had sang so beautifully in her bloodstream moments ago curdled into a thick, choking acid. This isn’t what the vision had shown her. This isn’t what she crossed the galaxy for, chasing Ben’s skewed version of their destiny. 

The room swam, her feet unsteady. Her entire universe tilted. 

The only stable thing in the room was Ben’s hand, suddenly extended towards her. 

“Join me.” 

She felt him like the pull of a magnetic field, distorting the space around her, coaxing her towards an event horizon she couldn’t see or fathom. She didn’t know what would happen to her--to both of them, really--if she stepped closer and connected her hand with his. She didn’t know if she could avoid it. 

“Please.” He pleaded, softly. 

She could tell from the shifting emotions on his face that this wasn’t going the way he planned either. His eyes were deep and dark like the twilight forest on Starkiller; Rey was afraid if she looked away, fissures would crack open beneath the ice and try to swallow him all over again.

“Ben…” She began gently, hating the way it made his lip quiver, his fist tighten on Anakin’s lightsaber as his confidence crumbled. She was fully prepared to turn him down, to explain the million reasons why this was a bad idea, why it could never work. But instead her mouth opened and she asked, “What--what would happen then, if I were to...accept?” 

He sucked in a sharp breath, slid a half-step closer to her. “We’d rule the galaxy side by side.” 

“As your sworn enemy?” She frowned. Her hand hovered over his--five inches, two inches, a hair’s breadth. 

His dark eyes were inscrutable. “As my queen.” 

This close, she’d be able to feel the heat radiating off his skin if it weren’t for the cold black shell of his glove. This close, she could just as easily snatch his lightsaber as hold his hand. A thousand possibilities fanned out before her like the infinite reflections of the mirror cave. 

“And together we’d crush the Resistance once and for all.” 

She froze. “No--not that.” 

Kylo Ren frowned, eyes flashing with anger and disbelief. “They’re enemies of the First Order, how do you expect our empire to survive if they’re out there sabotaging us?” 

Saying nothing, she pressed her mouth into a thin white line and stared him down. 

He huffed, glancing away. “If I promise to--deal with them another way, then would you accept?” 

“If by deal with them, you mean let them live, then yes.” 

He paused, working his mouth thoughtfully, and it was a moment too long. That pause told her more than his words ever could. 

“Ben…” she shook her head apologetically. ”I have to know you won’t kill them.” 

She pounced, clawing deep into his brain with the Force; she wasn’t as steady-handed or as delicate as he had been with her. Her touch was clumsy and unforgiving. 

He gritted his teeth. “Rey. Don’t do this.” 

His hand--the one he had extended in offering--swung upward in a claw and she felt it like a blast of dark ocean water, the shriek of a thunderhead. She staggered backward, stars prickling the corners of her vision, but quickly regained her footing and lashed back at him.

“Rey, please.” His voice rippled through the hurricane between them. 

The radar pinged, the sound of her friends dying one by one. 

Grinding her teeth, she lurched towards him, the Force unfurling from her fingertips so ferociously she could feel the architecture of her very being shudder and shift, her atoms shivering against one another. 

Ben grunted and staggered backward, dropping to the cold floor. 

She exhaled, deep and shaky, and rushed toward him. 

Kneeling beside him, she leaned down and pressed a shaky kiss to the damp curls at his temple. The urge to curl around him, to mend him and protect him both surprised and overwhelmed her, but she pushed herself off the cold ground and made her way to the elevator, Anakin’s lightsaber tucked against her hip. 

The doors slid open. Hux blinked at her in surprise. “What--?” 

She leaned toward him, looking into his pale blue eyes as something predatory uncoiled in her. “Two of the Praetorian guards were agents of the Resistance. They attacked and killed Supreme Leader Snoke.” Taking an almost savage satisfaction in the hypnotic glaze that overtook his eyes, she pressed on. “Ben So--Kylo Ren was injured defending his master. For that, you think he is a hero.” She hesitated, forced herself to say: “You think he will make a wonderful leader of the First Order.” 

The idea of Ben sitting proudly at the apex of the Order slightly sickened her, but the thought of him being cut down in his sleep by this opportunistic leech was far worse. 

A slightly manic, airy grin spread across Hux’s pale face. “Long live the Supreme Leaders.”

“No--” She shook her head, mouth agape. “Supreme Leader. It’s him, only him.” 

He simply nodded and brushed past her, an eerie calm in the way he carried himself, hands resting at the small of his back as he stepped over a severed arm. She watched him go, wondering if on some deep-seated level he understood something she didn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't fret kiddos there will be lots of Empress Rey to look forward to! This has been lurking in my google docs folder since January and I have lots more chapters to post once I get them dolled up to my liking. 
> 
> \--> rating will eventually upgrade to E 
> 
> @cyb3rneticeve on tumblr, come join me in my cave if you're also a troglodyte.


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